Interview with Neutrinos about Rock Show app

Hi Everyone! I’m happy to introduce what I hope will be common talk here at PadGadget – Apps Interviews. We plan to bring you up close and personal with all of those creative companies out there whom are as excited as we are with the iPad. We’ve recently talked to some cool companies to see what they think of the iPad, get details about their apps and their future product plans.

To start us off, I spoke with Rob Banagale, CEO of Neutrinos, to discuss his thoughts about the iPad and their upcoming launch for the Rock Show app. Rob was extremely nice to us and they indeed have some cool stuff for all of you with their upcoming iPad app.

PadGadget: Can you tell us about Neutrinos? What are you guys all about? Love to hear how Neutrinos was created.

I founded Neutrinos with David Peixotto, a fellow Oregon State University graduate, as a general software company in 2005. Our first project was a Ruby on Rails web application paired with a .net windows client called Podcastinople. The goal was to automate podcasting and compete with another service called Odeo. That market never really materialized and the Odeo folks went on to create Twitter.

We learned a lot from that first experience and built some great development infrastructure. We also realized how exciting it can be to explore new platforms, so we turned our focus to Facebook, Twitter, and most recently, Apple’s Cocoa Touch. Today, Neutrinos is a multi-disciplinary digital media company with a strong technical and business management team. By the beginning of this year we were in a great place to kick off development for the iPad.

PadGadget: What are your initial impressions of the iPad as a device from a user’s perspective? What about from a developer’s perspective?

I’ve been looking forward to a tablet device from Apple for a long time. I see the iPad as a transformative device that will change both the way we consume and share information with others. I can’t wait to hold one in my hands.

Laptops and netbooks have characteristics that make them powerful tools for creation and collaboration in virtual spaces, but I think the iPad will shine in its ability to foster the same activities in the physical space. More than any other device, the iPad is about show and tell. Working face to face with others is important and I think the iPad has the potential to make that time more enjoyable, creative and effective.

From a development perspective, we see the iPad as both an enormous opportunity and a strong challenge. On one hand, we’ve the expertise to build useful applications for the iPhone OS. On the other, the expectations from users are going up with each passing week so there is real pressure to continue to step up our game and compete.

PadGadget: How long did it take to create Rock Show?

Version 1.0 of Rock Show was created in 60 days, though there were some important preparations that allowed us to develop Rock Show so quickly. Neutrinos has released several applications for the iPhone, which gave us a strong foundation to jump directly into creating an iPad app.

PadGadget: Did you enjoy the experience?

Participating in the sprint to be a part of the iPad’s launch has been the most exciting and unique entrepreneurial opportunity we’ve ever had. The technical side has been fun, as this is like the wild west of software development. But the business side has been great too. We’ve gotten to know an incredible community of concert poster artists, collectors and dealers.

PadGadget: Are you trying anything new for your app? Any insights as to what we can expect from your app?

Rock Show has some new aspects that keep things interesting for us and represent a new experience for folks who try it out. For Neutrinos, it is our first free offering to the app store, this changes a lot about how we market and roll out new features for the app.

Another new avenue for us is that we are facilitating the purchase of real world goods from within the application. These posters are unique, limited edition items, and we’ve created a system that puts you two taps away from buying a print and having it shipped directly to your front door.

For people out there with iPads, you’ll see that the iPad’s portability and huge LCD display make it the best way to view and share artwork next to handling the real thing. If you’re buying an iPad, Rock Show may be your first exposure to this awesome cottage industry of limited edition concert art prints.

Two other important things that make Rock Show unique are the poster image resolution we’re offering and the support for all iPad orientations. This is the first time a lot of these poster prints are available in 1024 pixels in either dimension, which means they all look beautiful at the iPad’s native resolution. The support for portrait and landscape modes means you can get a brilliant full size look at the details in both tall and wide concert posters.

PadGadget: Now that you’re near the launch of your iPad app, are there any new gotchas that you were not expecting that others should be aware of?

The biggest gotcha at this point is not having an iPad in hand. This presents real limitations in testing. Second to that, the iPad includes some new user interface elements, which were illustrated repeatedly during Steve Jobs’ introduction keynote. Creating this new UI and using it appropriately is also a challenge with the iPad because we don’t have a single application in the wild to serve as guidance for UI design.

PadGadget: We’re familiar with your Dave Matthews Band Facebook application. You’ve had success with it. Any iPad plans for new apps or concepts like this in your near future?

We’ve seen a number of iPhone applications effectively implement Facebook Connect. After the initial release of Rock Show we plan to incorporate social elements into our application. Apart from push notification, social engagement brings an important level of stickiness to mobile applications that we see as vital to their success.

PadGadget: What advice can you offer to other developers out there that are looking to enter the gold rush on the iPad store?

Given the lack of experience developers have with the iPad, it is important to pay close attention to the human interface guidelines Apple has in place. Trust Apple’s suggestions about the user interface characteristics of an effective iPad application. Second, go beyond recreating an idea for the iPhone. Consider what you can build that will be unique and special to the iPad.

PadGadget: Which iPad device are you thinking about getting for yourself? WiFi or 3G?

I know we’re getting at least two 32GB WiFi editions. We all have iPhones so in a pinch we’ll have to rely on those 3G plans.

PadGadget: Before we let you go, do you have any other thoughts you’d like to share?

Thank you very much for the interview. We appreciate your interest in Rock Show and want to wish you the best of luck in your continued coverage of this revolutionary device.

I want to thank Rob for doing this. I had a blast talking to him. You will soon be able to find Rock Show in the iPad App Store. Stay tuned for more interesting interviews. We plan to bring you up close with all those creative companies out there.